“The story of creation. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… God said, “Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures’… God said , ‘Let us make mankind in our image and likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, over all the wild animals and every creature that crawls on the earth!” (Genesis 1:1-16).
Per info, the universe is about 15 billion years and the earth is about 4billion years, Mosses wrote Genesis about 3500 years ago!
Please carefully take note that God used the plural noun “us” when God created mankind. “Us” would mean, God the Father our Creator, God the Son the Word and God the Holy Spirit the Sanctifier. Clearly, before the creation of “the heavens and the earth”, there already exists the Holy Trinity of One God in three Persons. “Tama?”
This further would mean that God the Father who is the begotten One. Begets God the Son and from them proceeds God the Holy Spirit to first “assist” God the Father in the creation of heavens and earth and all living creatures including mankind and non-living things, and secondly in the stewardship of all God’s creations. “Tama?”
Thus in the very beginning there is God the Father. The Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J., states that the God the Father is the “First person of the (Holy) Trinity, who is unbegotten but who eternally begets the Son. To the Father is attributed creation. God the Son (is) the second person of the Trinity, who is eternally the only – begotten Son of the Father. He is really distinct from the Father and co-eternal with the Father. Through him all things were made. He became incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and is known as Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity who eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son and is really distinct from them yet co-equal with them as God. To him are attributed all the works of the Trinity that pertain in the sanctification of the human race.”
Per Webster, the term “begotten” means “beget” and this connotes” to cause or sire”. Clearly since God the Father is unbegotten, He is undoubtedly our Creator who “caused” God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
God the Son is the Word of God the Father who was made Flesh and God the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifying Power of both the Father and of the Son. They all form the Holy Trinity which is considered as a fundamental Mystery by our Catholic Church.
Fr. Hardon explains the Holy Trinity: “A term used since A.D. 200 to denote the central doctrine of the Christian religion; God, who is one and unique in this infinite substance or nature, is three, really distinct persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The one and only God is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Yet God the Father is not God the Son, but generates the Son eternally, as the Son is eternally begotten. The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but a distinct person having his divine nature from the Father and the Son by eternal procession. The three divine persons are co-equal and consubstantial and deserve co-equal glory and adoration.”
“The faith of all Christian rests on the Trinity. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit not in their names for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit the Most Holy Trinity”, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. For more information on the mystery (something unexplained) of the Holy Trinity, refer to Chapter One, subtitled “The Revelation of God as Trinity” which further explains “The formation of the Trinitarian dogma”.
One common comment about the Holy Trinity is that the term was not mentioned in our Holy Bible, “Korek sila riyan.” As pointed out earlier, by Fr. Hardon, the “term used since A.D. 200 by Christian religion”. Hence, the term Holy Trinity falls within the Sacred Tradition of the Christian faith. Again from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “One common, source.. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, the, are bounded closely together, and communicate one with the other.
For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in same fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal. Each of them makes present and future in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own “always, to the close of the age”.
“Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit. And (Holy) Tradition transmit in it’s entirely the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching.
“As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, “does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone. Both Scriptures and Tradition must be acceptable and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.”
More on Tradition from Fr. Hardon: “Literally, a “handling on”, referring to the passing down God’s revealed word. As such it has two closely related but distinct meanings, tradition first means all of divine revelation, from one generation of believers to the next, and as preserved under divine guidance by the Church established by Christ. Sacred Tradition more technically also means, within this transmitted revelation, part of God’s revealed word which is not contained in Sacred Scripture.”
Ultimately, it is a matter of Faith, “the acceptance of the word of another, trusting that one knows what the other is saying and is honest in telling the truth.” Divine Faith is belief in God while human faith is belief in the integrity of human beings. As a devote Christian, I truly believe in the mystery of the Holy Trinity – One God in Three Persons. Yes to Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.Understanding more the Holy Trinity, no doubt, helps me to increase my Christian Faith, trust and rely more on God. All these for God’s greater glory.
